Even Gods Die
by Mad Jack
Summary: A new player arrives in Sunnydale with his own agenda concerning Dawn and Glory. Who is he and how will it affect the gangs future?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer:I own nothing in the BTVS universe, just the story I'm writing, Joss Whedon owns everything Buffy.  
  
Rating: PG-13, Language, violence, and a little sexual innuendo.  
  
Pairings: W/T, X/Anya, others later maybe  
  
Time: about midseason of season 5  
  
Summary: A new player arrives in Sunnydale with his own agenda concerning Dawn and Glory. Who is he and how will it affect the gangs future?  
  
ONE  
  
Xander Harris was not having a good evening, it had started out not so bad but it had gone downhill pretty quickly when the group of Vampires had jumped Buffy and himself as they were leaving the cemetery. Buffy could have probably handled all six of them by herself, but one of them did something unexpected, she pulled out a can of pepper spray, and let Buffy have it right in the eyes.  
  
Blinded and disoriented, Buffy would have been dead meat, so Xander did what he had to do, he jumped into the group and began fighting. Trying to give the Slayer time to recover, time to save the both of them. He had done well initially, as usual, the Vamps tended to underestimate him, and two of them were now dust thanks to that bit of luck.  
  
Now, however, things were looking pretty bad. Two Vamps were holding Buffy down, one had Xander in a full Nelson, and the last one was getting ready to put the bite on Buffy.  
  
"Now you die Slayer."  
  
"NO!" Xander struggled futilely against the Vamp holding him. The other Vamps laughed.  
  
"I don't find any of this particularly funny." A new voice stated from behind Xander. "In fact, it kinda pisses me off."  
  
The Vamp holding Xander turned to look, which allowed Xander to see the man who had just spoke.  
  
He was small, smaller than Buffy, he was about twenty, blond, shoulder length hair parted in the center, dark complected, dark eyes, a black moustache that curved down past his mouth nearly to his jaw line, and he had a sad little smile on his face.  
  
He was sitting on a tombstone. He was wearing black jeans, a gray t shirt, brown hiking boots and a black leather bomber jacket that was zipped about a quarter of the way up. His elbows were resting on his knees as he leaned forward to look closely at Xander.  
  
"Who the Hell are you?" the Vamp that had been about to bite Buffy asked angrily.  
  
"My name isn't important, Bloodsucker. What's important, is that I'm giving you a chance to let go of them and leave before I lose my temper."  
  
He hopped off the tombstone and began to walk toward them. The Vamps seemed confused for a moment, Xander didn't blame them, he was a bit confused himself.  
  
"How about we just kill you?" The lead Vamp snarled, "You don't look like much to worry about to me."  
  
"That's the problem with looks," the man sighed tiredly, "They're usually deceiving."  
  
He had moved up until he was face to face with the Vamp leader, well face to chest actually, he was pretty short. The Vamp wasn't impressed, he looked down at him and bared his fangs as he laughed. Then the Vamp reached down and grabbed him by the arm.  
  
"You were warned." The man said. He reached out and grabbed the Vamp, lifted him over his head and threw him about twenty feet. He smacked into the side of a mausoleum with the crunch of bones breaking.  
  
Before the leader landed, the man half turned and tore the head off the one holding Xander and threw it at one of the ones holding Buffy down. He launched himself at the last Vamp with a feral snarl. The Vamp holding Xander dusted and he staggered forward, off balance a bit.  
  
The Vamp holding Buffy's left arm let go of her to catch the head thrown at him. It was an instinctive reflex that allowed Buffy to strike the one on her right arm, that one staggered back from the force of the punch, right into the stranger's tackle. They went down in a tangled heap, there was a loud crack and the Vamp dusted as his head came off.  
  
The other Vamp tried to catch the head but it dusted before he got his hands on it. He was momentarily blinded by the dust, so he never saw the stake the Buffy rammed into his heart. He dusted without knowing quite what happened.  
  
Xander moved over to Buffy whose eyes were still running from the pepper spray, "Are you alright, Buff?" He asked as he took her arm.  
  
"I'll be okay, Xan." She said, "Who was the assist guy?"  
  
"My name is Harry Kenzie. You must be Buffy Summers and Alexander Harris." The man said as he walked back over to them.  
  
"How do you know our names? And how did you do all that? Are you some kind of Demon or something?" Xander asked as he moved between Buffy and the man.  
  
"It's a very long story that I would really rather not tell it in the middle of the night in a Sunnydale cemetery." He replied with an exaggerated wave.  
  
"Okay, good point." Xander replied. "I think we can find a better place to talk."  
  
"Oh yeah, one last thing." Harry said. He walked over to the Vamp who was lying unconscious next to the mausoleum. He produced a stake from his jacket pocket and finished him off. He rejoined them a moment later, brushing dust off his hands.  
  
"Okay, we can go now."  
  
The three of them arrived at the Magic Box about ten minutes later. During the walk over, Harry had allowed Buffy to check his pulse and had placed a cross against his forehead to prove he wasn't a Vampire. He definitely had a pulse and the cross caused him no harm so he wasn't one. He could be some sort of Demon or maybe a sorcerer. Willow and Giles would be able to tell if he were, Xander thought.  
  
They entered the shop to find Giles, Willow, Tara, Anya and Dawn sitting at the large table near the back. Giles looked up from a rather large book and started to speak, but then he caught sight of Harry, "I'm sorry, Sir, we're closed for the day."  
  
"It's okay, Giles, he's with us." Buffy said as she crossed the room and took a seat. Xander moved toward Anya but stopped when he saw the look on her face. She had gone pale and was trying to get up from her seat and back up at the same time.  
  
"Ahn?" She continued to back away, her eyes wide in fear.  
  
"It's alright, Anyanka, I'm not here for you." Harry said quietly. He leaned up against the front counter and sighed. "It just sucks to have my past."  
  
"Who are you?" Giles asked somewhat agitatedly, "How do you know Anya?"  
  
"My name is Harry Kenzie. I know Anyanka there because I once tried to kill her."  
  
Everyone in the room was staring at him now. Xander moved so he was between Harry And Anya, Buffy got back up and pulled a stake from her waistband. "Easy there! It was a long time ago, and she was a Vengeance Demon."  
  
"So what are you?" Buffy asked, "No human could have moved like you did earlier. And how did you know who I am?"  
  
"Let me tell you all a little story that should answer all of your questions. I think it all started about 15,000 years ago."  
  
"Oh no! Not a history lesson!" Xander groaned.  
  
"Be quiet, Xander." Giles said irritably, "We need answers and your interrupting will not speed the process. With Glory running around loose, we cannot afford too many distractions."  
  
"Nicely said Mr. Giles. Now where was I? Oh yes, 15,000 years ago the nation of Atlantis was in it's prime. They were every bit as powerful as America is now, more powerful in some ways, but there were constant threats to the nation. To deal with these threats the Atlantean Highguard was formed. They were the finest warriors, mages, scholars and adventurers in the land."  
  
"For almost a millennia they defended Atlantis from all her enemies. Eventually though, they were defeated from within. A trusted high mage betrayed them to the darkness and Atlantis fell. The survivors scattered to the four corners of the earth, and once mighty Atlantis passed into legend. That's the story most folks know."  
  
"I take it there's more?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Bright girl. The Highguard was made up of the best and brightest, but there were none better or brighter than the General Staff. It took humanity until World War Two to relearn how effective a General Staff could be, but that's another story. Anyway, before they were betrayed, a member of the General Staff was sent to what is now Australia with a detachment of soldiers to fight a demon. The General's name was Kenzig, and he was a warrior to be reckoned with."  
  
"He found and fought the Demon, most of his men were killed but he killed the Demon. In his moment of triumph, he learned that the Demon was a lure to get him out of Atlantis so that his homeland could be betrayed. He abandoned his men and raced back to Atlantis, but he was too late. The mage who had betrayed his homeland had already struck and Atlantis was no more."  
  
"The betrayal was all the more bitter because the mage was his own brother, Danali. After he found out the details from several other survivors, Kenzig sought out a powerful witch and had her curse his brother. The curse was an unusual one, it stipulated that Denali could only die by his brother's hand."  
  
"My word, that seems a little extreme for a curse." Giles said.  
  
"Kenzig wanted vengeance in the worst way. He didn't want anyone to cheat him of his prize so that's what he tried to do, prevent anyone else from killing Denali, so that he could. What he didn't foresee were some possible consequences."  
  
  
  
Okay folks, if you like it, let me know and I'll write more. If you don't let me know and I'll write more to annoy you! 


	2. Consequences

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the BTVS universe, just the story I'm writing, Joss Whedon owns everything Buffy.  
  
Rating: PG-13, Language, violence, and a little sexual innuendo.  
  
Pairings: W/T, X/Anya, others later maybe  
  
Time: about midseason of season 5  
  
Summary: A new player arrives in Sunnydale with his own agenda concerning Dawn and Glory. Who is he and how will it affect the gangs future?  
  
"What kind of consequences?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well, the curse worked both ways, Danali could only die by Kenzig's hand and Kenzig could only die by Danali's. As time passed, Danali grew more and more powerful in the dark arts, while Kenzig grew physically stronger and faster. It was as if the curse was keeping the playing field level between them."  
  
"Exactly how powerful has Danali become? Since I am to assume you are Kenzig." Giles asked.  
  
"Danali is the most powerful sorcerer on the planet." Harry said, "If there is a spell that you think can't be done by anyone, he can do it."  
  
"Good Heavens!" Giles gasped, "Someone that powerful would truly be a danger to everyone."  
  
"True. But Danali has given up his attempts at world domination a few millennia ago, Every time he came close, Kenzig showed up and stopped him. After a while, he concentrated solely on finding a way to get away from Kenzig permanently."  
  
"So what does all of this have to do with us?" Willow asked.  
  
"Think about it for a minute, if only one person in the whole world could kill you, wouldn't you want to get as far away from that person as you could?"  
  
"Well, sure." Xander replied.  
  
"Suppose you could get away from that person by going to another dimension. A dimension that person couldn't follow you to."  
  
"You mean he's planning on following Glory to her home dimension? Isn't that a Hell dimension? Why would he want to go there?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well for starters, yes it is a Hell dimension, but it's a relatively tame Hell dimension. Danali would survive there easily enough. With Kenzig unable to follow him, he would be able to live forever with no fear. Really, if you think about it from his point of view, it's a perfect solution. All he has to do is get there."  
  
"Which is where we come in." Buffy said.  
  
"Yes. He will do everything to help Glory open the portal so that he can slip through with her."  
  
"As if we don't have enough problems with the Hell-Bitch alone, now we have a super-sorcerer helping her." Xander groaned, "Does anyone else here think our day is just going straight to Hell?"  
  
"You won't have to worry about Denali, he's my problem. You can continue to concentrate on Glory. If you can find a way to stop her, I can deal with my brother."  
  
"Therein lies the crux of our problem, Glory is a God. We have no idea how to stop her." Giles said thoughtfully.  
  
"I'll let you in on a little secret, Mr. Giles, sooner or later, everything dies, even Gods. You people just need to figure out how to speed up the process for her."  
  
That comment was greeted by a chorus of excited talk from almost everyone in the shop. Harry got up and helped himself to a cup of tea as the Scoobies discussed the problem among themselves. He moved over to stand beside Anya and he gave her a sad smile. She still flinched away from him.  
  
"I just want you to know that I really mean you no harm." He said as he sipped his tea, "Demon hunting was just something I did to stay sharp through the years. Now that you are human, you have nothing to fear from me."  
  
"I-I uhm." Anya stuttered.  
  
"It's alright. I expect you'll be a bit nervous no matter what I say. You know, you were only one of three to ever get away from me. I guess that does make you pretty unusual. And you regained your humanity, that's also extremely rare. If you and the boy don't work out, I'll be very surprised."  
  
"Why?" Anya managed to ask.  
  
"He's special. I can't say how right now, but he is, and you are too. Special people tend to do well together." Harry finished off his tea and walked away leaving one very perplexed ex-demon in his wake.  
  
Tara was sitting beside Willow, not really listening to the discussion around her, she was watching Harry as he spoke with Anya. She was almost dazzled by the aura she saw surrounding him. It was bright, but it seemed wrong somehow. She could almost swear that it flickered occasionally to dark and then back. It was so quick that she couldn't be sure though.  
  
She made up her mind that after they left tonight, she was going to do a little research on her own about that flickering aura effect. Something about it was tugging at her memory, but she couldn't quite pin down what it was. She was pulled out of her thoughts when Willow ran her hand across the back of her shoulders and asked if she was alright.  
  
"Sure. I'm fine." Tara replied with a shy smile. 


	3. Discusions

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the BTVS universe, just the story I'm writing, Joss Whedon owns everything Buffy.  
  
Rating: PG-13, Language, violence, and a little sexual innuendo.  
  
Pairings: W/T, X/Anya, others later maybe  
  
Time: about midseason of season 5  
  
Summary: A new player arrives in Sunnydale with his own agenda concerning Dawn and Glory. Who is he and how will it affect the gangs future?  
  
After some further discussion, Harry got up and headed for the door. "I'll keep in touch. If you all need my help I'll be around."  
  
"How do we contact you if we need your help?" Giles asked.  
  
"I wrote my cell number down on that note pad on the table. See you all later." He called over his shoulder as he exited the shop.  
  
As soon as the door to the shop closed, Xander looked across the table at Giles and asked, "So, do you think he's on the level, G-Man?"  
  
"I'm not sure, I'll have to research some things. And stop calling me that." He replied as he moved over to a bookshelf and began looking for something.  
  
"Well, he was awfully strong, and fast too." Buffy piped up. "He dusted three vamps in about three seconds. And he threw another one about twenty feet."  
  
"Wow! Anything else?" Willow asked.  
  
"He has a cute little butt" Dawn noted.  
  
"DAWN!" everyone shouted.  
  
"Just an observation." Dawn pouted.  
  
"What can you tell us about him, Anya?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well, I ran up against him about 500 years ago. He hunted me down after I turned two brothers into snakes for having cheated on two sisters. He looked about the same tonight as he did then. I managed to get away just in time or he would have killed me, he was really strong." She replied thoughtfully. Something was nagging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't pin it down just yet.  
  
"The name Kenzig was kind of a legend among Demons. It was kind of like the bogeyman for them. No one really believed he was real. I know I didn't until he beat me half to death" Anya visibly shuddered. "I knew then why they feared him, he didn't die. I eviscerated him and he laughed at me."  
  
"Lovely visual there, Ahn." Xander said as he took her into his arms.  
  
"What about you, Witchy-Woman? Did he give you the wiggins or anything?" Buffy asked Willow.  
  
"No, I didn't get anything from him." Willow replied, "Which is kinda weird, usually I feel something from anybody. With him it was, well, like he wasn't really there. What about you, Tara?"  
  
"He has a really bright aura, one of the brightest I've ever seen. But it was strange, I-I can't be sure but, it seemed to flicker a couple of times." Tara replied thoughtfully, "I've never seen that before."  
  
Giles had returned to the table with a book in his hand and was reading from it, oblivious to everyone else. He finally looked up from the book and muttered, "Well, there is very little written about Kenzig. Mostly legends speaking of him as one of God's avenging angels."  
  
"I suppose that would be the thought, considering that he was hunting Demons for fun." Anya said grumpily.  
  
"So do we trust him?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Well, any help he can give us against Glory would be welcome." Giles said.  
  
"He is a formidable fighter. I think we could use his help." Anya said.  
  
"I vote yes." Xander said.  
  
"As long as he gives us no reason not to." Willow said.  
  
"I think we should, at least for now." Tara said.  
  
"Why not? He is kinda cute." Dawn said. She got an exasperated look from Buffy. "What?"  
  
"Okay, so we accept his help for now." Buffy said firmly, "But we keep an eye on him just in case."  
  
  
  
Across town in a cheap motel  
  
A girl was sitting on the bed watching TV, actually, she was flipping through the channels with the remote more for something to do than anything. Inactivity was never her thing. She sighed in frustration and turned off the TV.  
  
A knock came from the door and she got up and moved to the door. She peeked through the little lens in the door to confirm that it was the man she had been expecting, and opened the door. Harry Kenzie came in and took a seat in a well-used armchair.  
  
"So how'd it go?" She asked him.  
  
"Not well." Harry replied as he yawned, "I have to change the plan. Denali is already here."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I saw him. Relax, he didn't see me." He said as she tensed up. "I followed him and saw what he was up too, so there won't be any surprises from him."  
  
"So what is he up too?"  
  
"Exactly what we thought, he's trying to find the key so he can turn it over to Glory."  
  
"So he's out looking for the key?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"What do you mean, not exactly?"  
  
"The devious Bastard has got the Slayer and her friends doing it for him."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Simple, he told them he was me."  
  
"So what do we do now? They think he's you and if you try to approach them they won't believe you. I can't go to them, they'll never believe anything I tell them."  
  
"We don't approach them. We sit back and watch, when he makes his move, we'll make ours. My brother seems to have forgotten that I am capable of more than fighting, that is the weakness we will exploit."  
  
"So, more waiting then. I don't do waiting so well."  
  
"This is your chance for redemption, Faith, don't get antsy on me now. Help me stop Denali, and no one will be able to hold your past over your head anymore. You can finally go on with your life."  
  
Faith didn't reply. She looked at the man before her and thought about the offer he had made her a few weeks ago. Saving the world would definitely go a long way toward evening up the balance sheet on her life. She couldn't afford not to help, and most surprisingly, she wanted to help.  
  
"So what do you want to watch?" She said as she flopped onto the bed and picked up the remote.  
  
"Anything but Weakest Link, Anne Robinson is a Demon."  
  
"For real?"  
  
"Yes, she got away from me about five thousand years ago. If I weren't busy right now, I'd pay her a little visit."  
  
"I'll bet you would. So what does it feel like?"  
  
"What does what feel like?"  
  
"Being so old, I mean, you must've seen some real cool stuff."  
  
"I am not discussing this with you right now."  
  
"C'mon Old Man, spill."  
  
"Faith!"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Don't call me that."  
  
Okay people, you know the drill, review please! 


	4. Opening moves

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the BTVS universe, just the story I'm writing, Joss Whedon owns everything Buffy.  
  
Rating: PG-13, Language, violence, and a little sexual innuendo.  
  
Pairings: W/T, X/Anya, others later maybe  
  
Time: about midseason of season 5  
  
Summary: A new player arrives in Sunnydale with his own agenda concerning Dawn and Glory. Who is he and how will it affect the gangs future?  
  
It had been almost two weeks since Kenzig had come to the Scoobies and asked for their help in stopping Glory. In the two weeks since, very little had happened. The local Vamps were keeping their heads down, not wanting to get caught in any of the crossfire, Buffy hadn't seen so little activity since she had become the slayer.  
  
Giles had so far come up with nothing about how to defeat Glory in any of his texts. He was growing ever more frustrated and frightened for his slayer. If he couldn't find some sort of answer soon, they might all perish, along with the rest of the world.  
  
Tara and Willow had worked up a few spells they hoped might slow Glory down a bit, but they were unsure of them. How do you fight an honest to goodness God, anyway? Still, they had to try, so they continued to refine and research their spells.  
  
Xander and Anya had assisted in the dull business of research. Anya felt that there was something she was forgetting, something important but she couldn't quite pin it down. This feeling made her ever more quiet and distracted. Xander on the other hand, tended to babble as he became frustrated with the lack of progress on the research front.  
  
Dawn did her best to help with research, but she was so frightened that her contributions were nonexistent. She knew that she was the Key, and that Glory wanted her to open the way between dimensions, if that happened, then Dawn would cease to be, something she didn't want, even if her whole life had been a lie, she didn't want to give it up.  
  
Spike had remained on the fringe, showing up to annoy during patrols and such. He hadn't yet run across Kenzig and he didn't for one second believe that the Boogey-man of Demondom was in town, much less real. Even Anya's warnings went unheeded. Spike simply couldn't conceive an entity that he should fear. He didn't fear Glory either, so perhaps Spike was simply not too smart.  
  
Kenzig had taken to dropping by the Magic Box every few days to check up on the gang, they didn't see him otherwise, nor did they have any idea where he was staying. Xander had tried to follow him once, but he had turned a corner and simply vanished. He apparently didn't want any kind of social interaction with anyone. He asked about new developments in the search for the key, and also what moves Glory had made lately.  
  
The gang had agreed not to tell anyone about dawn being the Key, so they didn't tell him, they had no new information about Glory, so he rarely spent more than five minutes in the shop when he did show up. His lack of interest in anything but Glory and the key was disturbing to the group, they spent a lot of time puzzling over his motivations and possible reasons not to get close to them.  
  
"I don't get it." Xander was saying, "Are we just not cool enough for him to hang with, or is it something else? Maybe my deodorant isn't living up to its promise to keep me fresh smelling?"  
  
"I doubt that it is anything so mundane as that." Giles said.  
  
"He seems a bit obsessive. Maybe he spends all his time planning how he's going to take out his brother." Willow observed.  
  
"Maybe he's planning new ways to hunt down and kill Demons. After all, old habits die hard. He didn't have any bunnies with him last time he was here, did he?" Anya began to panic a bit.  
  
"Relax Ahn. He didn't have any bunnies. And he said he wasn't after you, remember?"  
  
"But what if he changes his mind?"  
  
"I doubt he will, Anya. I suspect that perhaps living as long as he has, he has learned not to associate to closely with others, after all, we are rather short-lived compared to him." Giles said.  
  
"That must be so sad. Living so long but not wanting to get to know people because you know they will eventually grow old and die while you don't." Tara said quietly.  
  
"I guess that would get to be depressing after a while." Buffy remarked as she came in from the back room. "Did the old guy have anything new to tell us?"  
  
"Unfortunately no, Buffy." Giles replied. Buffy had been in the back room working out when Kenzig had come in so she had missed him. She was still wearing her sweats and had a towel draped over her shoulders. "He asked about the Key and Glory and then went on his way."  
  
"Huh, he seems almost as interested in the Key as he does in Glory or his brother." Buffy observed.  
  
"Yes, well, if he located the Key, he would be assured that his brother would seek him out to obtain it." Giles reasoned.  
  
"Not gonna happen. Dawn stays our little secret." Buffy said flatly.  
  
Across town in the motel  
  
Faith sat up and hit the rewind on the VCR that was connected to the monitor she had been watching, "Hey Old Man! I think we got something here!" She called out.  
  
Harry stepped out of the bathroom, his hair was still wet and he was dressed only in a towel around his waist. Faith took a few seconds to stare at the incredible number of scars on his body. There were literally scars on top of scars. Harry didn't notice her moment of distraction, "What have you got?" He asked.  
  
"Uhm. Something B just said. I think you need to hear it and tell me what you think." Faith hit the play button and leaned back so she could see his back. It was covered in scars as well. It appeared that almost his entire torso was covered in scars. She found herself intensely curious about them for some reason.  
  
Harry listened to the exchange between Buffy and Giles and then sat on the bed thinking for a few minutes. During the first week, he had installed miniature camera all over town. In the Magic box, Buffy's house, Her dorm, the Bronze, all of the cemeteries, Giles's house, and even Xander's apartment. In short, every place he might observe the gang. Faith had particularly enjoyed the show from Xander's apartment.  
  
"Dawn is the Key." Harry muttered to himself, "Very clever."  
  
"How so?" Faith asked.  
  
"Put the Key in human form, place her as the Slayer's sister, gives her a ready-made guardian. Those monks were pretty bright about this one."  
  
"So Dawn isn't real?"  
  
"Oh, she's real alright. Just everything prior to her creation is implanted false memories." Harry said thoughtfully.  
  
"Damn! I remember meeting her, and hanging out with her a little, that never happened?" Faith asked quietly.  
  
"No, I'm afraid not. But she will remember you as you remember her, so, in a way, it is real."  
  
"Wow! Way to confusing here." Faith decided to change topics, "So what's with all the scars?"  
  
"a legacy, if you will." Harry said as he looked down at them. "I can't be killed, but that doesn't mean I can't be hurt."  
  
"You mean you take damage from time to time, huh?"  
  
"Yes, but only killing blows leave the scars."  
  
"You mean each one of these would have killed you if you weren't."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Wow!" Faith was impressed. There were a lot of scars on his body. She reached over and traced her fingers over on over his heart. "What did this?"  
  
"A Roman spear around 100B. C." He replied. He shuddered a bit as her fingers continued to trace other scars. "I think you should stop now."  
  
"Why? Don't you like it?"  
  
"On the contrary, I like it very much. It has been a long time since.well, I don't generally allow myself to get close enough to anyone to get intimate with them." Harry replied as he took her hands and removed them from his chest.  
  
"C'mon, it's only sex, nothing to get all deep and personal about." Faith said with a sexy grin, "As long as you been around, I bet you know some wicked tricks." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed up against him. She could feel him pressing back as he slipped his arms around her waist. He looked into her eyes and she hesitated.  
  
"Oh but you are so wrong about that. Sex is the most deep and personal thing two people can ever share." He told her, "But after so many years, I get tired of people I care for leaving me. I don't enter into any kind of relationship lightly."  
  
"I'm a big girl, I don't need protecting."  
  
"No, you don't. But I do. I don't want to start getting attached to you and then have to watch you die."  
  
"We all die, even Gods die, if you kill your brother then you can die too, right?"  
  
"If I understand the curse correctly, yes, once I kill him, I will live out the rest of my life as a normal man."  
  
"So what's the big deal then?"  
  
"If he escapes me again, I'm back where I started."  
  
"Not gonna happen, Old Man. I've watched you working for the last few weeks. He's not gonna get away from you this time, you're too good. You're gonna get him and then this'll all be over. Then what are you gonna do?" She had begun to run her hands over his back, marveling in the odd texture of his scarred skin.  
  
"I.I haven't really thought about what happens then." He admitted, "I have been a bit too busy focussing on killing Denali to think about that."  
  
"I thought so. Once he's dead, you won't have any kind of life, 'cause you won't have any reason to keep going, right?"  
  
"Uhm, I don't know."  
  
"I'm offering you a reason. You gave me a second chance and you believed in me. The least I can do is be there for you when this is over."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I guess maybe I managed to learn something. If someone helps you out, you help them out. I haven't been very good at that before. If I'm gonna be one of the good guys, I need to be better at that."  
  
"Oh, so I am a test case then?"  
  
"If you wanna see it that way, then yeah. Besides, you've got a nice bod and the scars are kind of a turn on."  
  
"You're impossible, Faith."  
  
"You know it. Now how about you spill about your life? I want all the details, if I'm gonna be your little helper, I need to know these things, Old Man."  
  
"Faith?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Don't call me that." But he was smiling when he said it.  
  
Glory's apartment  
  
Glory was in one of her bad moods. She was trying to find just the right scarf to go with her dress and those toadying Demons were no help at all, no matter what she tried they assured her that it was magnificent. Useless dolts, all of them. To top it off, she was still no closer to finding her Key. And that Slayer was hiding it from her, she just knew it.  
  
She paused and thought for a minute, perhaps she should just go and beat it out of the little Bitch herself. Her minions were useless in that area as well, each time she sent them out, they came back, beaten and bloody. Yes, that sounded like a fine idea, beat it out of the Slayer, get her Key, open a portal and go home!  
  
She was just starting to hum a happy little tune, satisfied that her day was looking up, when the front door opened and a short man entered her apartment, "Who the Hell are you?" She asked irritably.  
  
"Forgive my intrusion, Glorificus. But I needed to speak with you. My name is Denali."  
  
"And why would I wish to speak to a lowly mortal like you?"  
  
"You are looking for something, and I wish to offer my services in locating it."  
  
"And what makes you think I need your so called 'services'?"  
  
"For starters, you haven't found your Key yet. Second, I have infiltrated the Slayers team."  
  
"Hmm. Alright, I'll listen, what do you want?"  
  
"I want you to take me with you when you go home."  
  
"That's all?!!" Glory tried hard not to laugh, a human wouldn't last five minutes in her dimension, but this idiot apparently didn't know that. Still, if he had infiltrated the Slayers team, he could be useful.  
  
"Yes, I wish to return with you so that I may live my life without worry of a person killing me. In return, I will turn the Key over to you when I find it."  
  
"Very well, but if you fail to deliver, your death will be very messy and painful." Glory smiled at him, no person would kill him in her dimension, but there were plenty of Demons who would. Mortals were so stupid. She wondered how they managed to survive most of the time. She dismissed him with a wave and went back to her closet.  
  
Okay, that's it for now, let me know what you think. 


End file.
